South Korea creates a wearable robot that helps paraplegic patients walk health

South Korean researchers have created a lightweight wearable robot that can help paraplegics walk, overcome obstacles, and climb stairs.

The Exoskeleton Laboratory team at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology said their goal is to create a robot that integrates seamlessly into the daily lives of individuals with disabilities.

Team member Kim Seung-hwan, who suffers from hemiplegia, showed off the prototype that helped him walk at a speed of 3.2 kilometers per hour, climb a flight of stairs, and take side steps to slide down and sit on a bench.

He added, “It can approach me wherever I am, even when I am sitting in a wheelchair, and it can be worn to help me stand, which is one of its most prominent features.”

The robot, called “Walk on Suit F-1,” weighs 50 kilograms and contains 12 electronic motors that mimic the movements of human joints while walking.

Park Jong-soo, one of the team members, said that he was inspired by the movie “Iron Man.” “After watching the movie Iron Man, I thought it would be great if I could help people with a robot in real life,” he added.

To ensure the user’s balance while walking, the robot is equipped with sensors on the soles of the feet and in the upper part of the body, which monitors a thousand signals per second and anticipates the movements that the user wishes to make.

Park said the lenses on the front of the robot act as eyes and analyze its surroundings, determine the height of stairs and detect obstacles to compensate for the lack of sensory ability of users with complete hemiplegia.

Kim Sung-hwan won the gold medal wearing the “Walk Unsuit F-1” suit in the exoskeleton category at the Kybathlon 2024 competition, which witnessed the participation of developers with various physical disabilities to display assistive robots in 8 categories.

“I wanted to tell my son… that I was able to walk too. I wanted to share a variety of experiences with him,” Kim said.